System and method for location-based sharing of information and location-based response to the shared information

ABSTRACT

The disclosure is directed to a system and method for sharing, broadcasting, or publishing information by a user from a location in real-time and allowing one or more users near that location to directly respond to and directly communicate with the sharing, broadcasting, or publishing user. A computing device, for example, may receive a request for assistance from a first user computing device and determine a geographical location corresponding to the first user computing device. The computing device may publish the geographical location. The computing device may also receive a response to the request for assistance from a second user computing device and may determine whether the response indicates a request to establish communication with the first user computing device. Based on the determination, the computing device may establish direction communication between the first user computing device and the second user computing device.

BACKGROUND ART

The invention relates to a system and method for sharing, broadcasting,and/or publishing information by a user from a location in real-time andallowing one or more users near that location to directly respond to anddirectly communicate with the sharing, broadcasting, and/or publishinguser.

Crisis mapping is the real-time gathering, display, and analysis of dataduring a crisis, such as a natural disaster and social or politicalconflict, e.g., violence, protests, etc. Projects involving crisismapping allow a large number of people, including crisis responders andthe general public, to contribute information either remotely or fromthe site of the crisis. In that regard, crisis mapping encourages thepublic to engage and report information related to the crises, which canimprove data management. Crisis mappers may work with data derived fromvarious sources and can be analyzed for different purposes. Tools forcrisis mapping include mobile and web-based applications, participatorymaps and crowdsourced event data, aerial and satellite imagery,geospatial platforms, advanced visualizations, live simulations, andcomputational and statistical models.

“Ushahidi,” for example, is open-source software that gathers data fromcrowdsourcing tools, such as SMS, e-mail, and social media platforms,and allows users to manage, survey, and respond to a situation. Anotherexample is the “Sahana Free and Open Source Disaster Management System,”which is an emergency management and disaster preparedness software thataims to provide web-based disaster management applications, such as anonline bulletin board of missing and found people, a tracking tool tocapture information about the places where each organization is activeand the ranges of services being provided, a shelter registry to keeptrack of location and basic data of shelters in the region, inventorymanagement, and a situation awareness tool to allow people to addinformation and collaboratively capture the current disaster situation.Moreover, “PulsePoint” is a mobile phone application that uses thecurrent location of a user and alerts the user if someone nearby issuffering from a heart attack and is in need of cardiopulmonaryresuscitation.

The above-described crisis mapping tools, however, are limited anddisadvantageous in numerous ways. First, the primary source ofinformation originates from the people that merely witness the crisis orincident (typically via social media platforms) and not from the peoplewho are directly affected by the crisis or incident. It is alsodifficult to organize the numerous amounts of data and informationreceived from the social media platforms, determine where the victimsare located, and determine how to specifically help those victims.Second, the benefit of crisis mapping tools is limited by the peoplesubscribed to the crisis mapping services and/or the limited number ofpeople certified and approved by the services to render assistance.Similarly, requesting assistance through social media platforms is notonly limited to the user's network of friends and its size, but helpfulonly if those friends are near the location of the user. Third, usersare required to download applications or sign-up for the crisis mappingservices before use, which is a severe limitation for users who have notdownloaded the applications or have signed up when a crisis or incidentactually occurs. Moreover, crisis mapping tools are typically used onlyfor urgent situations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure, the inventionis directed to a system and method for sharing, broadcasting, and/orpublishing information by a user from a location in real-time andallowing one or more users near that location to directly respond to anddirectly communicate with the sharing, broadcasting, and/or publishinguser via a platform. The information may include a request forassistance. The request for assistance may be an emergency prompted by aparticular incident, such as vehicular accident, or may be non-urgent,such as a request for pizza delivery.

The use of the platform may be as ubiquitous as calling 911, 112, orshouting for help. The platform is more expansive than a predefinednetwork of friends, and thus, the sharing, broadcasting, and/orpublishing user may be able to share, broadcast, and/or publishinformation to any user of the platform, such as to people that thesharing, broadcasting, and/or publishing user may not know or not haveconnected with on social media. In at least that regard, the platformmay empower a community of users to help and provide assistance to eachother. Moreover, the platform may allow bystanders and/or witnesses toassist users in need by posting relevant information to the platform forother users to see.

Unlike the crisis mapping tools described above, the platform of thepresent disclosure allows the information to originate directly from avictim needing assistance and also allows a responder to directlycommunicate with the victim without the victim and the responder havingto have a predefined relationship.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system in accordance with one or moreaspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a communication diagram in accordance with one ormore aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 3 to 6 illustrate example user interfaces in accordance with oneor more aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example map interface in accordance with one ormore aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 8 to 10 illustrate example user interfaces in accordance with oneor more aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a system and method for sharing, broadcasting,and/or publishing information by a user from a location in real-time andallowing one or more users in near that location to directly respond toand directly communicate with the sharing, broadcasting, and/orpublishing user. The information may be a request for assistance relatedto an emergency or a non-urgent matter.

In one example, a driver may have inadvertently crashed his or hervehicle into a stationary object, such as a tree. Although the driver isconscious, the driver is trapped in the vehicle and has sufferednumerous injuries. Moreover, the driver may not know the exactgeographical location of the accident, nor does the driver know nearbycross streets due to the driver's unfamiliarity with the area.

To request help, the driver may use his or her mobile device to connectto a platform (hereinafter referred to as the “HLPR” platform) byopening a web browser (for retrieving, presenting, and/or traversinginformation resources on the World Wide Web) and typing a URL (such as“HLPR.global,” “HLPR.be,” “HLPR.network,” or “HLP.rs”), oralternatively, opening a corresponding mobile application, in ordershare, broadcast and/or publish on the HLPR platform information aboutthe accident. The information may include, among other things, theseverity of the accident, the time at which the accident occurred, thestatus of the driver, the various injuries sustained by the user, andimages and/or videos of the injuries and the accident. The HLPR platformmay then publish or broadcast the information on a HLPR map interface,and make known to the other users of the platform at least the exactgeographical location of the driver and the time that the accidentoccurred.

Subsequently, one or more users of the HLPR platform near the locationof the driver may respond to the driver's request for emergencyassistance and establish direct communication with the driver toascertain more information about the accident and injuries, ifnecessary, in order to render the requisite assistance. In at least thatregard, the information about the accident and the status of the driveris directly provided by the driver to the responder-user, and not fromsocial media platforms. Moreover, the HLPR platform is readily availableto the driver via the web browser in the event the driver did not havethe HLPR platform downloaded onto the mobile device beforehand.

In another example, a driver may puncture a tire while driving his orher vehicle and may require assistance in changing the deflated tire. Inyet a further example, a person who may request one or more nearby usersto order and pick-up carryout, such as pizza. In these examples, therequests are not urgent, which the user can specify on the HLPRplatform. The HLPR map interface can graphically represent the variousrequests in different ways depending on the urgency of those requests.For instance, an emergency can displayed in a certain color, or inlarger font, so that users are able to quickly decipher the emergencyfrom non-urgent requests.

In other instances, the users of the HLPR platform—as bystanders orwitnesses of the various incidents—may post information, e.g.,descriptions, photographs, videos, etc., of the incidents. The HLPRplatform may automatically associate the posted information to therespective incidents so that other users who are willing to respond mayhave access to information, which may not have been otherwise providedby those directly affected by the incidents. The posted information maybe monitored and regulated by the community of users so thatobjectionable, or even irrelevant, information are removed from the HLPRplatform. In other embodiments, the images, videos, or other suitabletypes of information may be pixilated or redacted if they are relevant.Relevancy, for example, may be determined by votes from the community ofusers.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 in accordance with one or moreaspects of the disclosure. The system 100 may include one or morecomputing devices, e.g., mobile computer 110, tablet computer 120,smartphone 130, server computer 140, and storage device 150 connected toa network 160. For example, the mobile computer 110 may be a laptop (orany type of computer that is portable or mobile, such as an Ultrabook,smartphone, PDA, tablet computer, a wearable computing device, etc.) andincludes a processor 112, memory 113, e.g., permanent or flash memory(which includes instructions 114 and data 115), a display 116, and aninterface 117. Similar to the mobile computer 110, the tablet computer120, smartphone 130, and server computer 140 may also include at leastone processor, memory including instructions and data, one or moreinterfaces, and/or a display. The mobile computer 110 may be configuredto communicate with the tablet computer 120, the smartphone 130, servercomputer 140, and/or the storage device 150 via the network 160. Asshown in FIG. 1, the cascaded blocks associated with a particularcomponent illustrate that more than one of those components may exist,and it may be understood that different components can be cascaded andthat there may be numerous variations thereof.

The processor 112 of the mobile computer 110 instructs the variouscomponents of the mobile computer 110 to perform various tasks based onthe processing of certain information, such as instruction 114 and/ordata 115, stored in memory 113. For example, the processor 112 may behardware that can be configured to perform one or more operations, e.g.,adding, subtracting, multiplying, comparing, jumping from one program toanother program, operating input and output, etc., and may be anystandard processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU), or may be adedicated processor, such as an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an industrialprocess controller. Moreover, the processor 112 may have any suitableconfiguration or configuration of circuitry that processes informationand/or instructs the components of the mobile computer 110, or performsdistributed processing. While one processor block is shown in FIG. 1, itmay be understood that the mobile computer 110 may also include multipleprocessors to individually or collectively perform tasks, as describedabove.

Memory 113, whether permanent or flash, may be any suitable type ofhardware configured to store information accessible by the processor112, such as instructions 114 and data 115, which can be executed,retrieved, manipulated, and/or stored by the processor 112. It may bephysically contained in or coupled to the mobile computer 110. Forexample, memory 113 may be ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, hard drive, write-capable,read-only, etc. Moreover, the instructions 114 stored in memory 113 mayinclude any set of executable instructions, code, or one or morealgorithms, e.g., “steps” associated with software, that can be executeddirectly or indirectly by the processor 112. The instructions 114 may bealso transferred onto memory 113 in various ways, e.g., from servercomputer 140 and/or storage device 150 via network 160. In addition, thedata 115 stored in memory 113 may be retrieved, stored or modified bythe processor 112, for example, in accordance with the instructions 114.In one aspect, the data 115 may be stored as a collection of data. Forinstance, although the invention is not limited by any particular datastructure, the data 115 may be stored in registers, in a database as atable having multiple fields and records, such as an XML. Similar to theinstructions 114, the data 115 may also be transferred onto memory 113from various components via network 160.

The display 116 may be any suitable type of device capable ofcommunicating data and various types of information to a user, such asvisual representations of the software that can be executed by themobile computer 110. For example, the display 116 may be aliquid-crystal display (LCD) screen, a light emitting diode (LED)screen, a plasma screen, etc. Interface 108 may be a graphical userinterface (GUI) that is displayed to the user on the display 116, akeyboard, a mouse, a touch sensitive screen, a camera, a microphone, aconnection or port that allows the reception of information and data,such as interactions from a user or information/data from variouscomponents via network 160. For instance, FIGS. 3 to 6 and FIGS. 8 to 10are examples of GUIs, which will be further described below with respectto the discussion of the HLPR platform functionalities of the presentinvention.

The tablet computer 120 may include one or more processors (configuredto execute computer instructions and/or applications), memory, one ormore interfaces, a touchscreen display, sensors, microphone, camera,speakers, networking hardware (configured to connect to a network, suchas network 190, via a wired or wireless connection), etc.

The smartphone 130 may be a mobile cellular phone with computingcapability and network connectivity. For example, the smartphone 150 mayinclude one or more processors, memory, one or more user interfaces,such as a QWERTY keypad, a camera, image sensors, a global positioningsystem (GPS), accelerator, temperature sensors, etc. Similar to themobile computer 110 and the server computer 140, the smartphone 130 maybe configured to execute computer instructions, applications, programs,and any set of instructions and data.

The server computer 140 may be rack mounted on a network equipment rackand/or located in a data center. In some examples, via the network 160,the server computer 140 may serve various requests associated with theprograms executed on the mobile computer 110, the tablet computer 120,the smartphone 130, and/or the storage device 150. In further examples,the server computer 130 may be part of a plurality of server computersthat support a back-end system (which may be “invisible” to users).

The storage device 150 may be configured to store a large quantity ofdata and may also be configured to transfer such data when requested oraccessed by other components of network 160. For example, the storagedevice 150 may be a collection of storage components, such as ROM, RAM,hard-drives, solid-state drives, removable drives, network storage,virtual memory, multi-leveled cache, registers, CD, DVD, etc. Inaddition, the storage device 150 may be configured so other componentsof network 160, such as the mobile computer 110 and/or server computer140, can access and provide data to other components connected to thenetwork 160.

The network 160 may be any suitable type of network, wired or wireless,configured to facilitate the transmission of data, instructions, etc.between one or more components of the network. For example, the network160 may be a local area network (LAN) (e.g., Ethernet or other IEEE802.03 LAN technologies), Wi-Fi (e.g., IEEE 802.11 standards), wide areanetwork (WAN), virtual private network (VPN), global area network (GAN),mesh network, distributed network, or any combinations thereof. In thisregard, the mobile computer 110, the tablet computer 120, the smartphone130, the server computer 140, and/or the storage device 150 may connectto and communicate with one another via the network 160.

While the mobile computer 110 may be a portable computer in theabove-described examples, mobile computer 110 is not limited to justportable computers, but may be any device capable of processing dataand/or instructions and transmitting and/or receiving data. Moreover, itwill be understood by those skilled in the art that those components mayactually include multiple processors, memories, instructions, data ordisplays that may or may not be stored within the same physical housing.And although the various components of FIG. 1 are connected to thenetwork 160, it may be understood that the components may also beconnected to each other, in any suitable combination.

In one embodiment, direct communication may be established between auser seeking assistance and a user that will provide the assistance.FIG. 2 illustrates a communication diagram 200 in which the HLPRplatform 202 establishes and facilitates the direct communicationbetween user A (the user seeking assistance) and user D (the userproviding the assistance).

As illustrated, user A via a computing device sends message 204 to theHLPR platform 202 requesting assistance from other users of theplatform. The requested assistance, for instance, may be an urgentrequest involving a vehicular accident in which one of the involveddrivers needs medical assistance. If more information about the requestis required, such as the specifics of the injury, the platform 202 maysend user A message 206 requesting for more information. For example,the platform 202 may request user A to specify the kind of medicalassistance is needed, whether EMS, police, or rescue are needed, etc. Inresponse, user A sends message 208 to platform 202 indicating that therequested assistance is a medical emergency involving a broken arm. Themessage 208 (or subsequent messages) may contain other suitable types ofinformation, such as the geographical location (e.g., coordinates) ofthe user A, the time that the accident occurred, additional detailsabout the accident, the people involved in the accident and theirstatus, and photographs and/or videos of the accident. The informationcontained in message 208 (and the subsequent messages) may be stored bythe platform 202 in memory, such as the memory in server computer 140.

Upon receiving the requisite information about the accident and othersuitable types of information, a publication or broadcast 210 is made bythe HLPR platform 202 to other users of the platform. As will be furtherdiscussed below, the publication or broadcast 210 may be a graphicalrepresentation or icon on a map interface. The appearance (e.g., color,size, pattern, etc.) of the graphical representation may correspond tothe severity of the incident being published or broadcasted. In theabove example, because the incident involved a car crash and furtherinvolved a victim requiring immediate medical attention, the graphicalrepresentation of the incident may be larger relative to other nearbyincidents and may also be depicted in a bright color, such as red. Inthat regard, other users of the HLPR platform 202 near the accident sitemay be able to easily and conveniently distinguish the urgent requestfrom the non-urgent requests.

Once the request from user A has been published, nearby user D mayrespond to the publication or broadcast 210 using the map interface. Forexample, user D may send a response message 212 to the platform 202responding to the request for assistance from user A. When the HLPRplatform 202 receives message 212, the platform sends user D availableinformation about the accident. As described above, the information maybe the information provided by user A in message 208 and other types ofinformation associated with the accident, such as photographs, videos,and/or descriptions of the accident posted to the platform 202 by nearbybystanders or witnesses. In order to gain more knowledge about theaccident and the injuries, user D may initiate using the platform 202direct communication 216 with user A. If, for instance, user D was acertified physician and learned more about user A's injuries based onthe direct communication 216, user D may be able to bring theappropriate medical equipment to properly treat those injuries.

Although FIG. 2 illustrates messages 204, 206, 208, 212, and 214, it maybe understood by those skilled in the art that more or less messageswith differing content, or in different order, may be required by theplatform 202 to establish and facilitate the direct communication 216between user A and user D.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure, easy-to-useinterfaces may be displayed and presented to a user of the HLPRplatform. FIG. 3 illustrates a home screen interface 300 displaying atleast five different icons. The home screen interface 300 may be thefirst interface that the user sees when the HLPR platform is opened. Asshown, for example, the home screen interface 300 may include a “requestassistance” icon 302, a “map” icon 304, a “post information” icon 306, a“more” icon 308, and a “what's happening now” icon 310.

As will be further described below, the user may select (e.g., press)the “request assistance” icon 302 to request assistance from other userswithin, for instance, a predefined vicinity to the requesting user. Whenthe user presses the “map” icon 304, a map interface may be displayedthat graphically shows all users. The user may also post informationabout an incident to the HLPR platform that the user may witness usingthe “post information” icon 306.

The “more” icon 308 may be selected to access different features of theHLPR platform, such as access to a virtual bulletin board whereinformation relating to various incidents may be posted, access to theuser's social media accounts and information from social media feeds ofothers, access to news sources and outlets, etc. For instance, the usermay select the “more” icon 308 to share the user's location and therequest for assistance on social media so as to reach out to morepeople. In another instance, if the user is or is associated with anofficial agency, organization, or relief party, the user can select the“more” icon 308 to access and post information, such as locationinformation and progress of assistance, on private virtual bulletinboards or chats, which are accessible only to official agencies, certainorganizations, or relief parties. Using the “more” icon 308, a user mayalso be able to connect with certified professionals, such asparamedics, doctors, nurses, etc., who may not be able to be physicallyon site, in order to ask questions or seek additional information aboutparticular injuries.

The “what's happening now” icon 310 may automatically and/or selectivelydisplay concise summaries of nearby requests or incidents without theuser having to open the map interface. As shown in FIG. 3, for example,the “what's happening now” icon 310 may display two different incidentsand/or requests: the first incident involving user A having been in acar accident that occurred at a certain time (e.g., 2:45 p.m. localtime) at a particular distance away from the user's current location(e.g., 0.3 miles) and the second request involving a request for pizzadelivery posted at a particular time (e.g., 2:36 p.m. local time) 0.7miles away from the user with additional information that user G willpay fifteen dollars in tip upon delivery. Each of these incidents and/orrequests that are displayed on the “what's happening now” icon 310 maybe selectable by the user. The user will then be able to either respondto these requests, obtain more information using the map interface. Ifother users fulfill these requests, they may be removed from the “what'shappening now” icon 310 in real-time and replaced with new ones.

FIG. 4 illustrates an assistance screen interface 400 in accordance withone or more aspects of the disclosure. As described above with respectto FIG. 3, when the user selects or presses the “request assistance”icon 302, the assistance screen interface 400 may be displayed to theuser. The user will be able to select or press either the “emergency”icon 402 or the “not urgent” icon 404. When the user presses the“emergency” icon 402, the HLPR platform may confirm with the userwhether the request is actually an emergency by prompting an “are yousure this is an emergency?” confirmation box (not shown) with “yes” and“no” icons, so as to prevent false reports of emergencies or generalmisuse.

FIG. 5 illustrates an emergency screen interface 500 in accordance withone or more aspects of the disclosure. When the user selects the“emergency” icon 402 via the assistance screen interface 400 of FIG. 4,the emergency screen interface 500 may be displayed to the user. Asshown, a menu of icons may be presented, each icon specifying adifferent type of emergency. For example, the emergency screen interface500 may include at least an “accident” icon, a “medical” icon, an“incident” icon, a “fire” icon, a “need EMS” icon, an “SOS” icon, a“need rescue” icon, and a “need police” icon. The user may be able toselect one or more of the icons in the same submission. If the user hasbeen involved in a vehicular accident and is trapped inside his or hervehicle, then the user may be able to select at least the “accident”icon, the “medical” icon if the user has sustained any injuries, and the“need rescue” icon. Moreover, the user may optionally provide additionalinformation about the nature of the emergency by describing thesituation in the “describe situation” box and “describe the peopleinvolved” box, as shown in FIG. 5. Although not shown, the user may beable to attach photographs, videos, or any other suitable digitaldepiction of the incident and provide them to the HLPR platform.

FIG. 6 illustrates a non-emergency screen interface 600 in accordancewith one or more aspects of the disclosure. When the user selects the“not urgent” icon 404 via the assistance screen interface 400 of FIG. 4,the non-emergency screen interface 600 may be displayed to the user.Similar to the emergency interface 500, a menu of icons may be presentedto the user, again each icon indicating a different type of non-urgentrequest including a “food” icon, a “service” icon, a “vehicle breakdown”icon, and an “other” icon. One or more of the aforementioned icons canbe selected by the user. For instance, if the user's vehicle breaks downon a road, the user may select the “vehicle breakdown” icon as well asthe “service” icon to request a tow truck to transport the vehicle to aservice facility. In addition, the user may optionally provideadditional information pertaining to the request via the “describeneeded assistance” and “describe people involved” icons, as shown. Ifthe user is requesting a pizza delivery, the user may select the “food”icon and describe the type of pizza desired, e.g., large pepperoni pizzafrom a particular establishment, etc.

FIG. 7 illustrates a map interface 700 in accordance with one or moreaspects of the disclosure. When the user selects the “map” icon 304 inFIG. 3, for example, the map interface 700 may be displayed. As shown,the map interface 700 may display a birds-eye-view of a geographicalarea in relation to the location of the user. The location may bedetermined using the global positioning system of the user's computingdevice. In one embodiment, the displayed geographical area includesmajor highways and streets, including City Street, Town Avenue, CornerAvenue, District Street, North Way, and Metro Way. The map interface 700also displays various buildings dispersed across the geographical area,such as apartment building 702 and commercial complex 704. Moreover, thevarious users of the HLPR platform and their respective locations may bedepicted by solid dots. User A, for instance, is located on 1st Street,user B is located on M Street, user C is located on Town Avenue, user Dis located on North Way, user E is located on Corner Avenue, and user Gis located in the commercial complex 704.

In one example scenario, user A may be involved in a car accident. UserA opens the HLPR platform on smartphone 130 (either via an installedapplication or a web browser) and requests emergency assistance usingthe emergency screen interface 500 and specifies that user A wasinvolved in a car accident and requires EMS assistance. User A may alsoinput additional information via the emergency screen interface 500,such as the number of passenger involved (e.g., two passengers includinguser A) in the accident.

The HLPR platform, using at least the map interface 700, may thengraphically share, broadcast, and/or publish the information submittedby user A. In at least that regard, other users of the HLPR platform,such as user D (who may be a certified physician for instance), may beable to open the map interface 700 and know that user A requiresemergency assistance. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the solid dot 706corresponding to the location of user A may be displayed larger relativeto the other dots, which signifies that user A is involved in anemergency situation. Moreover, a bubble icon 708 may display at leastsome of the information submitted by user A. In FIG. 7, the bubble icon708 may display that user A has been involved in a medicalemergency—specifically a car accident—concerning two passengers(including user A) at 2:45 p.m. local time, requires EMS assistance, andthat user A is 0.3 miles away. The HLPR platform may automaticallyand/or dynamically determine the size of the dots associated with theemergencies or non-emergencies of the users in the geographical area andalso time-stamp one or more of the publications and/or broadcasts, ifnecessary.

Simultaneously, user D may also see on map interface 700 that user B hasrequested assistance with respect to a punctured tire that occurred on MStreet 0.4 miles away. However, user D may observe that user B's requestis not urgent and no medical assistance is required. Accordingly, thesolid dot corresponding to the location of user B may be smaller thandot 706.

For a particular geographical area, such as the one being displayed onmap interface 700, the HLPR platform can determine which of the requestsare emergencies and graphically distinguish those requests over thenon-emergency requests. In addition to the dots corresponding to thelocation of the user requiring emergency assistance being larger, thecolor of the dots may also be different (e.g., bright red), or the shapeof the dot itself may be different (instead of a circular dot, it may bea triangular dot). Moreover, the location of an official agency, anorganization, or a relief party may be displayed on the map interface700 and the dot representing that location may also be distinct to showthe user that the dot is associated with the agency, organization, orrelief party, e.g., the dot may be a different color, size, shape, etc.The user can select the dot and the map interface 700 can subsequentlydisplay the name, location, and other helpful information associatedwith the agency, organization, or relief party. In at least that regard,other users, such as user D, who are able to provide assistance, caneasily, conveniently, and quickly determine which of the users in thegeographical area user D should tend to first. The HLPR platform mayconstantly analyze and determine the status of all the users in thegeographical area and prioritize their needs.

While the map interface 700 shows bubble icon 708 and 710 as being acertain size, it may be understood that the size of the bubble mayincrease or decrease with the amount of information being displayed inthe bubble icon. Moreover, similar to the above-described dotsindicating the locations of the users on map interface 700, the color ofthe bubble icons may change depending on the subject of the informationbeing provided (e.g., red for health related information, blue forfriend related information, etc.). In addition, it may also beunderstood that when there are more than one event or incident in aparticular geographical area, similar information or posts may begrouped together into one bubble icon.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 7, user D may choose to first renderaid to user A. User D may touch, select, or press the bubble icon 708 tosee if user A has provided more information about the car accident, andwhen user D determines that he or she is capable of providing therequisite assistance, user D may be able to establish directcommunication with user A. Additionally, a different user of the HLPRplatform may be able to view the same map interface 700 and observe,track, and/or monitor the assistance being provided by User D to user Ain real-time. The map interface 700 may also have a search function thatcan allow users of the HLPR platform to search for various requests inreal-time or requests that have already been addressed and the users whowere involved in responding to those requests. FIG. 8 is an example ofthe interface that is displayed to user D when user D touches, selects,or presses the bubble icon 708.

FIG. 8 illustrates a “user A” information screen interface 800 inaccordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure. As describedabove, when user D touches or selects the bubble icon 708, the “user A”information screen interface 800 may be displayed to user D. As shown inFIG. 8, a “details” box 802 may include various details and descriptionsabout the incident that user A has been involved in. The detailsprovided to the HLPR platform may be provided directly by user A, orother users of the HLPR platform who may have been witnesses orbystanders of the incident. For example, the “details” box 802 describesthe incident as a multi-vehicle collision, where the two passengersinvolved is a mother (user A) and a child. The child has not sufferedany injuries, but user A has broken her arm. The details further specifythat the passengers in the other vehicles have not sustained anyinjuries.

The “user A” information screen interface 800 may also display photos,images, etc. that are related to the accident in a “photos” box 804.Photo 1, for example, may be an image of the damaged vehicles. Photo 2may show user A's broken arm so that user D, who is a certifiedphysician, may know what kinds of medical equipment to bring in order totreat user A. Photo 3 may be an image of a particular landmark near thelocation of the accident in order to allow other users to easily findthe location of the incident. Similar to the details in the “details”box 802, the photos may be provided to the HLPR platform directly fromuser A, or from other others who are witnesses or bystanders to theaccident. While FIG. 8 shows photos 1, 2, and 3 in “photos” box 804, itmay be understood that moving images or videos may also be captured,uploaded, and displayed.

Moreover, the “user A” information screen interface 800 may include a“communicate with user A” icon 806 that allows user D to establishdirect communication with user A, if necessary. As will be furtherdiscussed with respect to FIG. 9, if user D, for example, requires moreinformation from user A in order to better treat her broken arm or otherinjuries, then user D may want to directly communicate with user A toask her for more information. Alternatively, user D may want to messageuser A message to simply reassure her that user D is on the way torender assistance. Moreover, to expedite the assistance process, user Dcan also press a “navigate to site now” icon 808 to obtain turn-by-turndirections to the actual geographical location of the incident and/orthe actual location of user A.

FIG. 9 illustrates a “from user D” screen interface 900 in accordancewith one more aspects of the disclosure. When user D establishescommunication with user A, or notifies the HLPR platform that user Dwill render assistance to user A, the “from user D” screen interface 900is displayed to user A. A chat-box 902 may be displayed with a chatmessage from user D to user A that reads “I am a doctor and I am veryclose to where you are. I will be there shortly to help.” Using thechat-box 902, user A may reply to user D's message with a “thank you.”As described above, user D may be able to inquire more about the statusof user A's injury and other pertinent information using the chat-box902. Moreover, the “from user D” screen interface 900 may display via an“ETA” box 904 the current location of user D by way of a map interface906 and user D's estimated time of arrival. In at least this regard,user A can be reassured that user D is on the way to render assistance.

FIG. 10 illustrates a “post information” screen interface 1000 inaccordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure. When a userpresses or selects the “post information” icon 306 shown in FIG. 3, forinstance, the “post information” screen interface 1000 may be displayed.Using at least this feature, bystanders or witnesses of an incident maybe able to provide information to the HLPR platform. The “postinformation” screen interface 1000 may prompt the user to describe thewhat, who, when, and where of the incident, and also provide the optionof uploading photographs or images related to the incident. Once theinformation has been received, the HLPR platform may be able toautomatically associate the posted information with (1) informationrelated to an already existing request for assistance or a particularincident or (2) create a new request for assistance, or event, orincident on the map interface, for example, if the posted informationcannot be associated with something that is already existing.

A new event or incident may be created by the HLPR platform based onposted information from a bystander or witness when the user(s) actuallyinvolved cannot do so. In the above-examples, if user A was unconsciousand was not physically able to use the HLPR platform, a bystander wouldbe able to post details about the accident and the condition of user Aonto the HLPR platform, where user D would then be able to directlycommunicate with the bystander using the HLPR platform if user Drequires more information about the incident or the status of user A.

It may be understood that the various screen interfaces and iconsillustrated in FIGS. 3 to 10 may be operated using an application and/ora web browser. In other words, the HLPR platform does not have to bedownloaded by the user prior to use. Moreover, it may be understood thatthe various icons associated with the screen interfaces shown in FIGS. 3to 10 may be arranged in many different ways and in any suitable manner.

Moreover, in order to prevent inappropriate posts or requests, the usersof the HLPR platform, as a community, may self-regulate. For example,users may object certain requests or posts. The regulation may also bebased on a raking or rating system. With respect to graphic images orphotos, users may be able to warn others of graphic content or be ableto pixilate or blur portions of the images. In addition to preventinginappropriate posts or requests, a community of users may be able toverify the accuracy of the photographs or videos. For instance, usersmay be able to vote “up” or “down” whether a photograph or a videoaccurately depicts an incident, or alternatively assign the photographor video a score to indicate its accuracy. To that end, if there are atotal of 25 pictures related to a house fire, only the photographs thatwere voted “up” by people who were physically near the fire can beposted to the HLPR platform. This can provide, for instance, one way toensure that the information posted to the platform is accurate.Moreover, in order for users to identify themselves as certifiedprofessionals, those users may be required to submit documentationproving certification. The platform can designate the certified userswith special symbols or any other suitable graphical representation.

It may also be understood that the platform can be used in conjunctionwith conventional ways of requesting assistance or help. In theabove-described examples, for instance, user A may be able to requestassistance on the platform before or after she has called 911 or 112. Inat least that regard, it is possible for operators of 911 or 112 to alsouse the HLPR platform and acquire accurate location information of theuser requesting assistance. If, for example, the operator cannot locatethe user using conventional 911 or 112 mapping tools, then the operatormay ask the user to locate him or herself on the HLPR platform.

Additionally, while the examples in FIGS. 3 to 10 described anindividual user responding to a request, it may be understood that usersresponding to requests via the platform may include not only individualusers, but also commercial entities, e.g., pizza restaurants that areable to satisfy user G's request, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 7.

The present invention is advantageous in various ways. As describedabove, a user is not required to download the platform beforehand inorder to use it. Users are also not required to subscribe to theplatform. Moreover, the use of the platform may be as ubiquitous ascalling 911, 112, or shouting for help. The platform also does not limitthe user to a predefined network of friends and the user is able toshare information about an incident and the corresponding location ofthe incident with any nearby user. To at least that end, the platformfacilitates communication between users who do not know each other ornot previously connected to each other via social media. Moreover, theplatform allows a requesting user and a responding user to directlycommunicate with each other and also allows the requesting user to knowthe ETA status of the responding user. The platform may empower thecommunity of users to help each other and even allows bystanders andwitnesses to contribute by posting information to the platform, thusemploying the “collective intelligence” of a particular community.

In addition to the above-described examples, embodiments, and aspects ofthe HLPR platform, the present disclosure may have other numerousapplications, such as alert systems for child abduction, missingchildren, and lost pets, review of businesses, integration into GPSsystems and other map interface platforms, incorporation of news feeds,etc.

The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate theinvention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of thedisclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of theinvention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention shouldbe construed to include everything within the scope of the appendedclaims and equivalents thereof Although the disclosure use terminologyand acronyms that may not be familiar to the layperson, those skilled inthe art will be familiar with the terminology and acronyms used herein.

1. A method for location-based sharing of information and location-basedresponse to the shared information, the method comprising: receiving, bya computing device, a first message from a first user computing device,the first message including a request for assistance; determining, bythe computing device, a first geographical location corresponding to thefirst user computing device; publishing, by the computing device, thefirst geographical location corresponding to the first user computingdevice on a map interface; receiving, by the computing device, a secondmessage from a second user computing device, the second messageincluding a response to the request for assistance; determining, by thecomputing device, whether the response indicates a request to establishdirect communication with the first user computing device, wherein theresponse is input by the second user via the map interface; and based onthe determination, establishing, by the computing device, the directcommunication between the first user computing device and the seconduser computing device, and wherein the map interface is readilyavailable to both the first and second users via the respective firstand second user computing devices without requiring the first and secondusers to: (i) sign-in, subscribe, or login and/or (ii) share apredefined relationship or be part of a social network.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising receiving, by the computing device,information associated with the request for assistance from the firstuser computing device.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the informationincludes one or more of: (i) an incident related to the request forassistance, (ii) people involved in the incident, (iii) indication thatthe request for assistance is an emergency, and (iv) indication that therequest for assistance is not an emergency.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising providing, by the computing device, on the mapinterface a time of the publication of the first location correspondingto the first user computing device on a map interface.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining, by the computing device, asecond geographical location corresponding to the second user computingdevice; and determining, by the computing device, a distance between thefirst geographical location and the second geographical location.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, further comprising providing, by the computingdevice, on the map interface the distance between the first geographicallocation and the second geographical location.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising determining, by the computing device, whether therequest for assistance is an emergency.
 8. The method of claim 7,further comprising providing, by the computing device, on the mapinterface a special indicator indicating the emergency at the firstgeographical location corresponding to the first user computing device,wherein the special indicator is different from an indicator associatedwith a non-urgent request for assistance.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining, by the computing device, a secondgeographical location corresponding to the second user computing device;and providing, by the computing device, to the second user computingdevice turn-by-turn directions from the second geographical location tothe first geographical location.
 10. The method according to claim 9,further comprising providing, by the computing device, to the first usercomputing device an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the second usercomputing device to the first geographical location.
 11. The methodaccording to claim 2, further comprising providing, by the computingdevice, the information associated with the request for assistance tothe second user computing device.
 12. The method according to claim 3,further comprising receiving, by the computing device, one or more of:(i) a first image and (ii) a first video associated with the incidentfrom the first user computing device.
 13. The method according to claim12, further comprising receiving, by the computing device, one or moreof: (i) a second image and (ii) a second video associated with theincident from a third user computing device.
 14. The method according toclaim 13, further comprising: associating, by the computing device, theone or more of the first image and the first video from the first usercomputing device and the one or more of the second image and the secondvideo from the third user computing device with the incident as a set ofvisual information of the incident; and providing, by the computingdevice, the set of the visual information of the incident to the seconduser computing device.
 15. The method of claim 8, further comprisingdetermining, by the computing device, a priority of the emergencyrelative to other previously received assistance requests, wherein oneor more of: (i) a shape, (ii) a size, and (iii) a color of the specialindicator is based on the determined priority of the emergency.
 16. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the direct communication between the firstcomputing device and the second computing device is performed via amessaging interface.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapinterface graphically depicts a predefined geographical area, the firstuser computing device and the user second computing device being locatedwithin the predefined geographical area.
 18. A system for location-basedsharing of information and location-based response to the sharedinformation, the system comprising: memory; and at least one processorfor executing stored instructions to: receive a first message from afirst user computing device, the first message including a request forassistance, determine a first geographical location corresponding to thefirst user computing device, publish the first geographical locationcorresponding to the first user computing device on a map interface,receive a second message from a second user computing device, the secondmessage including a response to the request for assistance, determinewhether the response indicates a request to establish communication withthe first user computing device, wherein the response is input by thesecond user via the map interface, and based on the determination,establish direct communication between the first user computing deviceand the second user computing device, and wherein the map interface isreadily available to both the first and second users via the respectivefirst and second user computing devices without requiring the first andsecond users to: (i) sign-in, subscribe, or login and/or (ii) share apredefined relationship or be part of a social network.
 19. Anon-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, the storedinstructions when executed by at least one processor performs a methodfor location-based sharing of information and location-based response tothe shared information, the method comprising: receiving, by a computingdevice, a first message from a first user computing device, the firstmessage including a request for assistance; determining a firstgeographical location corresponding to the first user computing device;publishing the first geographical location corresponding to the firstuser computing device on a map interface; receiving a second messagefrom a second user computing device, the second message including aresponse to the request for assistance; determining whether the responseindicates a request to establish communication with the first usercomputing device, wherein the response is input by the second user viathe map interface; and based on the determination, establishing directcommunication between the first user computing device and the seconduser computing device, and wherein the map interface is readilyavailable to both the first and second users via the respective firstand second user computing devices without requiring the first and secondusers to: (i) sign-in, subscribe, or login and/or (ii) share apredefined relationship or be part of a social network.